Unlimited Logins Allowed - Losing Money

dmeldrum · Joined: 13 Jun 2006 Posts: 18 Location: Nevada

In June I posted a question to a limitation I see with FirstSpot (which I didn't know at the time of purchase) and I need to revisit the issue once again because of the money I am losing and continue to lose. My first post along with markw, another user who has experienced the same problem, was posted in June and is listed below, including your resonse.

The reason I am reposting my question is I need to find a solution. Would you please consider making this option available within the next update of FirstSpot for those of us who desperately need the ability to limit our end-users to one computer.

So you will understand my problem I have included another example of what I am experiencing, to the one I included in my original post.

In my network, I have setup public access computers with the ability to purchase one plan which is setup for only 1 hour. I also have a wifi network in the same area for those who have laptops with the ability to purchase plans for 1 hour, 1 day, 3 days and 1 week. Because FirstSpot allows a person to login on any computer within the network a person creates an account on their laptop for one week. A couple of days later they give the username and password they have created on their laptop to their children who access the Internet from one of my public access computers. Now everyone gets free access on that computer until either the parent logs back on their laptop or I manually disconnect them in FirstSpot.

My income was down today and when I checked FirstSpot, someone had been logged into one of the public computers for 8:45, hence no sales today from that computer. This scenario happens repeatedly and I have to do something to limit duplicate access.

I can't be the only one who uses FirstSpot that is daily losing money.

Including the option of limiting users to only one MAC address within FirstSpot will only make FirstSpot a better, more versatile program.

Thank you for your consideration.

Don

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Posted in June, 2006

My response (question):

I too, like Mark, am losing alot of revenue from people who create a 24 hour account on our network and then share the username and password with all of their friends. The user logs verify this scenerio repeatedly.

Could you possibly look at giving us (those who purchased FirstSpot) a way to limit the unlimited logins to a single login from the computer which created the original account. That way those who want to give away their services can do so and those of us who want to charge for our services can as well.

This is no different than what Patronsoft does in protecting their investment; you provide a "license key" tied to a particular MAC address so people won't use your program on more than one computer.

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Your response:

So, basically what you want is that FirstSpot remembers the MAC address when a particular user first logs in, and then that username will stick to that MAC address afterwards?
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~ Patronsoft Limited ~

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My response:

Exactly; so the person who purchased the account may only use the account purchased on that machine.

Thank you,

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Don

alan · **Forum facilitator** Joined: 26 Sep 2003 Posts: 4435

The feature "bind to the first login MAC address" probably won't be available in the current v4, partly because it requires some major changes within FirstSpot. We will consider this in the future release.

How about workaround like "Conditions to suspend this account : When no. of logins exceeds the limit"?
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~ Patronsoft Limited ~

dmeldrum · Joined: 13 Jun 2006 Posts: 18 Location: Nevada

I have thought of using that feature, but then I am dealing with tech support calls.
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Don

esplanade · Joined: 09 Aug 2006 Posts: 18 Location: Gualala CA

As an WISP HOTSPOT operator (we have over 100 hotspots and 200 fixed wireless clients) I am disturbed by this post.
"binding to a MAC" is a basic principle of isolating/associatiing credentials with a particular session. I lost over $200 in ONE DAY FOR @ DAYS IN A ROW when 20 lawyers - yes lawyers - had a conference here and logged in once - then cheerfully passed the ID around the table

I ended up STILL doing a service call prior to knowing and got an entire $10 for the trip and the access

It is a serious concern
While FirstSpot appears to be far and above the other competitors, the closest competitor covers this - but has buggy software -

alan · **Forum facilitator** Joined: 26 Sep 2003 Posts: 4435

esplanade, at least for your case, can you use "Use MAC as username"? ( see http://www.patronsoft.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1278 )
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~ Patronsoft Limited ~

esplanade · Joined: 09 Aug 2006 Posts: 18 Location: Gualala CA

Most people don't know what thier MAC address is
I doubt "using mac address as username" is a viable option
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www.esplanade.us using Firstspot

dracomaster · Joined: 24 Jun 2004 Posts: 81 Location: Toledo, Oregon

problem with that is when u set a username to MAC address u lose half of the features. Such as account expiration, if u want it to cancel at a preset date or time u have to do it MANUALLY.

esplanade · Joined: 09 Aug 2006 Posts: 18 Location: Gualala CA

I repeat:

"binding to a MAC" is a basic principle of isolating/associatiing credentials with a particular session.

Using MAC address as username is not acceptable. Most people think a MAC is a hamburger and have no clue.

It must be seemless. and if dracomaster is correct - and i believe is - then the reduction of functionality is not worth the effort.

I think FIRSTSPOT is a great program. And while it has it's small share of issues this one is a major "hole" that I am hopeful Patronsoft will address soon.
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www.esplanade.us using Firstspot

alan · **Forum facilitator** Joined: 26 Sep 2003 Posts: 4435

1) This is more an enhancement rather than a bug fix. Please understand that we will give it a higher priority if there is a maintenance customer requests this.

2) Of course, we still need to evaluate the technical details and how much FirstSpot needed to be changed.

BTW dracomaster, "Use MAC as Username" should be very similar to normal username/password. Most of the user features should be the same.
_________________
~ Patronsoft Limited ~

dmeldrum · Joined: 13 Jun 2006 Posts: 18 Location: Nevada

Enhancement? Depends upon your perspective. When Patronsoft first starting developing FirstSpot, I assume that your first objective was to get paid for your effort(s), secondly, protect your investment by not allowing someone who purchased your program to share it with others. So what is the difference?

As esplanade said: "I think FIRSTSPOT is a great program. And while it has it's small share of issues this one is a major "hole" that I am hopeful Patronsoft will address soon."
_________________
Don

esplanade · Joined: 09 Aug 2006 Posts: 18 Location: Gualala CA

I purchased the product. The Enterprise level version
I was impressed with the forum and decided to not purchase the support -

So - AS A PAYING CUSTOMER - I want to emphasize that this issue is not an enhancement. it is a basic business premiss that can undermine the entire process using FIRSTSPOT. To be honest I bought the program fully expecting _that_ control mechanism to be included - it is a no brainer.
I see FIRSTSPOT uses a MAC address to insure I do not "steal" another copy. What is the difference between THAT and FIRSTSPOT customers getting shafted with the same issue?
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www.esplanade.us using Firstspot

dataexchange · Joined: 18 Sep 2006 Posts: 1 Location: Sydney

I am a prospective customer currently evaluating this product. I think it is a great product, however the issue discussed here is too great to ignore. I will not buy this product until this issue is addressed and resolved. Please contact me when it is available.

rict · Joined: 24 Oct 2006 Posts: 8

Has this been resolved yet?

DSLbyAir · Joined: 27 Oct 2006 Posts: 1 Location: Biloxi, MS

As a Wireless ISP, I am considering this software for my hotspots. However, If this problem with limiting one customer via their MAC address, I will not be buying this either. I currenting have 2 WG-601 handlink devices that work great, but they have a limit of 100 users at any given time. Your software looks promising, but I cannot deploy it with this issue unresolved.

best Regards,

http://www.dslbyair.com
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If you can't fit it, force it. If it breaks, it needed replaced anyway!

bhosted · Joined: 13 Nov 2006 Posts: 1 Location: USA

We have been running hotspot software from anatmedia.com which is a win32 app and does block muliple logins via mac tracking but the software locks to many times and has been unreliable so we are going to try this one. when seeting up a radius server why not just tell radius to not allow concurrent connetions.